Date: 27 January 2018
Distance: 24km
Time: 4:42.08
Race briefing.
And away we go!
Very early on, runners were queueing at a foot bridge, but since we started off so slow, we only had a wait a short while.
The first seven or so kilometres were all runnable. After the bridge we were by ourselves the whole time until we reached the massive uphill.
A one-person swing bridge where I was reduced to a walk.
When the imposing uphill started, we finally caught up with some other runners.
Gerry was feeding us every 20 minutes or so.
Up and up and up we went.
Finally above the treeline, but then into the fog.
Tall grass and scrub made the going difficult. Not that it seemed to bother most other runners.
Scary bits on the ridgeline.
I thanked my lucky stars that it was foggy, as I’m sure the drop-offs on either side would be very scary!
i decided to rather walk all the edgy bits.
Sidling around the ridge.
Another drop-off to the right. I was secretly shitting myself.
On the edge.
Nice to see a volunteer up on the ridge.
This is more what I thought it would look like at the top.
Into the mystic …
Another ridge to sidle along.
One is quite exposed on the mountain (nevermind the runner in front of me that exposed himself!).
Gerry seems happy that we reached this point.
Having some solid ground on either side of the path is much more comforting.
Foggy path.
One of the more runnable bits at the top.
Sweaty and tired, but happy to be heading downhill for a bit.
Finally we reached the volunteer at Mt Holdsworth.
Mt Holdsworth trig and a friendly volunteer.
Back on the ridge, and finally going down.
Don’t slip!
You couldn’t see too far ahead – possibly a blessing in disguise.
Happy days.
Starting a tricky descent.
A steep descent brought us to the Holdsworth Hut.
Lots of steps on the first stretch down the mountain from the hut.
And of course back into the forest.
The Gentle Annie Track is quite runnable.
Mt Holdsworth in the back.
My quads stopped working at some stage.
We still had a long way down to the start/finish.
Whoohoo! Not far now.
Happy to be so close to our first Jumbo-Holdsworth finish.
“Flying” for the last bit.
Clearly we didn’t go fast enough. Too much energy still.
A fantastic finish to a great race.
Grub on the house! Loved the veges!
Is there a prize for the dirtiest finisher?
Prize-giving in a beautiful spot on a lovely sunny day.
For the past seven years, this event has been on our to do list. But every year there’s something preventing us from entering; too much traveling and sitting over Christmas, too much eating and not enough training, injury, it is always this, that or the other. Finally, this year we took the plunge, very last minute I might add. We only entered five days out from the event (my apologies to the organisers). Continue reading
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